To summarise, Petitpas (2002) recommended that the following steps are necessary
when working psychologically with injured athletes. First, the therapist must attempt to
build up a rapport with the athlete in question. To do so, s/he must listen carefully to the
athlete in order to find out what the injury means to him or her. The second step involves
providing accurate and up-to-date information to the injured athlete on the nature of the
injury, the medical and rehabilitation procedures required, and the goals of the
rehabilitation programme. The third step of effective counselling for injured athletes
involves identifying the nature and types of coping resources available to the athlete.
Finally, the therapist and athlete must collaborate in working out specific, relevant and
achievable “goal ladders” for the rehabilitation programme (see also Chapter 2 for advice
about goal-setting techniques).
Before we conclude this section of the chapter, it might be helpful to read about an
actual case study using a psychological approach to injury rehabilitation. This case study
is based on the work of R.Cox (2002) and is presented in Box 9.6.
Box 9.6 Thinking critically about...a case study of injury rehabilitation
in rugbyRecently, R.Cox (2002) reported a case study of the use of psychological techniques to
facilitate the rehabilitation of a 21-year-old rugby player who had received a “severe
spinal shock” injury during a match. Although this injury did not cause paralysis, it was
severe enough to prevent the player from walking unaided for three months after the
incident He had sought psychological help because he had felt cut off from the club and
the rest of the team. His goal was to return to pre-season training.
Using a behavioural approach to the problem, R.Cox (2002) developed a programme
of activities based on the principle of “successive approximation” whereby the client is
required to master a series of graded stages of actions. Initially, he explained to the player
that there were at least three different fronts on which progress would have to be made
simultaneously: physical (fitness), motor (skill) and psychological. For example, the
physical aspect of the programme involved building up fitness in successive stages by
adhering to a circuit-training programme involving six exercises (e.g., press-ups, sit-ups)
twice a week as well as participating in his regular weekly five-a-side football match,
Interestingly, although the programme was successful in helping the player to return to
the first team at his club, it took a long time—three years!
Critical thinking questions
Are you surprised at the length of time it took for the rehabilitation programme to be
completed successfully? Using a combination of the grief stages model and cognitive
appraisal theory, can you think of any other practical strategies that could have been
employed in working with this injured athlete?
Helping athletes to cope with injury: from theory to practice 263